Board Member Oliver North Calls NRA "One Of The Greatest Protectors Of Civil Liberties That's Ever Existed On The Planet Earth"

During the inaugural episode of Cam & Company, a new National Rifle Association news program airing on Sportsman Channel, NRA board member Oliver North claimed that the NRA is "one of the greatest protectors of civil liberties that's ever existed on the planet Earth." North, who is a Fox News contributor, was also the central figure in the Iran-Contra affair during the Reagan administration, reportedly helping to funnel profits from arms sales to Iran to the human rights abusing Contras in Nicaragua.

North's characterization of the NRA came during a discussion of the President Obama's forthcoming recommendations on gun violence prevention:

CAM EDWARDS, HOST: We heard the President say, right, in his first comments after the massacre in Newtown that this had to be different, we had to talk about our children, we had to talk about protecting our kids, it couldn't devolve into the same political debate. And yet that is exactly what has happened. This has gone from how to protect our kids to how do we push the gun control laws that we have been advocating for for a decade or more from these gun control groups.

OLIVER NORTH: Sure. And they have been advocates for it.

EDWARDS: They have been.

NORTH: And what you now see is a sea change in the political climate in Washington, D.C., at the White House where they now expect that they can do things they otherwise would have been unable to do. That which he cannot accomplish legislatively is now going to be done by executive action. That is contrary to my understanding of what the Constitution's all about. I think it's contrary and foreign to most of our thinking. When we raise that right hand and take that oath, we don't pledge fealty to a political party, to an individual, unlike many other countries around the world. What we've done is we have now decided that one man can decide what is or isn't legal under certain circumstances. I think civil libertarians -- and by the way the National Rifle Association is one of the greatest protectors of civil liberties that has ever existed on the planet Earth.

North's baseless claim that the Obama administration will issue illegal executive orders that violate the Second Amendment has been repeatedlypushed on Fox News.

During his appearance on Cam & Company, North joined the NRA's ongoing membership appeal, urging members of the military to join the NRA, which he said had been formed "in the aftermath of the great war called the War Between the States."

NORTH: And so I want to reissue, if I may, Cam, that invitation. If you have served in the armed forces of the United States of America, took that oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, I invite you now to join this organization that was formed by military personnel in the aftermath of the great war called the War Between the States. 1871. And I invite you to join us now to protect that Constitution because no other organization in our country is going to stand up for your civil liberties like the NRA.

At the conclusion of the premiere episode of Cam & Company, Edwards previewed the format of the daily news show, stating that it will give NRA supporters a "voice" and the opportunity "to actually hear from folks that the mainstream media are not interested in covering."

EDWARDS: Again, you will have a voice and you will be able to actually hear from folks that the mainstream media are not interested in covering. They don't want to hear from the industry folks. They don't want to hear from ordinary Americans who know that their right to keep and bear arms is not -- if it's taken away -- it's not going to make anybody any safer. It's not going to reduce violence in this country. It's not going to make the crime rate lower. Because that's not what gun control does.

Edwards' nightly radio program on NRA News, also called Cam & Company, has been a frequentsource of misinformation about gun policy and gun violence prevention measures.